Multifaceted players guide Pac-12 fortunes
The Pac-12 has become a conference of stat-stuffers, a Vitalian term to describe multifaceted players who put up big numbers in a lot of statistical categories.
The stat-stuffer concept was introduced in the NBA by Oscar Robertson in the 1960s, popularized by Magic Johnson in the 1980s, and nearly perfected by LeBron James recently.
The Pac-12, which begins conference play Friday, is dominated by players who pack the stat sheet. Washington’s Nigel Williams-Goss, Cal’s Tyrone Wallace, Utah’s Delon Wright and Oregon’s Joseph Young are among the top stat-stuffers in the country, and their squads might be NCAA Tournament teams as a result.
And then there’s Oregon State junior Gary Payton II, one of five Division I players to produce a triple-double this season and the son of the statstuffing king, Gary Payton, who averaged 25.7 points, 8.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 3.4 steals in 1989-90 while almost singlehandedly leading the Beavers to a share of the regular-season conference title. The Beavers have not finished higher than fifth since then.
UCLA probably had the nation’s top stat-stuffer last season in point guard/shooting guard/small forward/power forward Kyle Anderson, and it is no coincidence that the Bruins are unlikely to duplicate their top-two finish of the past two years without him.
Here is a brief look at the Pac-12 teams, presented in order of predicted finish: